


A Husband's Privilege

by oorsprong, PolypusRegina



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Beards (Facial Hair), Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Married Life, Self-Indulgent, Sweetness, assholes in love, beard fixation, darkside husbands, sweet talk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-20
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-07-16 05:07:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7253695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oorsprong/pseuds/oorsprong, https://archiveofourown.org/users/PolypusRegina/pseuds/PolypusRegina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Ren is enamored with Hux's beard and Hux is more than happy to indulge him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Husband's Privilege

**Author's Note:**

> This piece exists within the framework of the series [That Unsteady Afterglow](http://archiveofourown.org/series/400483) and [Second Honeymoon](http://archiveofourown.org/series/461158) and as such uses their terms, timeline, and context. But this can absolutely be enjoyed separately.

 

Hux let his gaze run over the blade in his hands, precise and approving, as he turned it over.  He couldn’t believe he’d gotten such a fine instrument at a street market.  And for such a fair price.  He gently set it down in the case along with an old fashioned shaving brush.  Some things were better done the traditional way.

 

For a long moment he simply stared at the kit, inordinately pleased with himself and distracted enough that he didn’t hear Ren come up on him until he stood in the doorway of the ‘fresher.

 

Ren swept in as if bringing some vital news, and stopped in his tracks so quickly he nearly toppled over. Nothing else moved, but his eyes flicked back and forth between Hux’s face and the shaving kit on the counter in front of him, brows furrowed a little. Maybe he wasn’t sure what it was. Or maybe he just wasn’t sure why Hux had it.

 

“Did you buy that just now?” He asked, head tipped ever so slightly toward the razor. “While you were out?”

 

“Yes, I did,” Hux said, feeling smug.  “It’s a fine blade, would you like to inspect it?”

 

He lifted the folded blade and held it out.

 

Ren took it like he wasn’t sure he trusted what he was being given, carefully turning the blade over in his hands. Surely he’d seen straight razors before, even if he didn’t use them himself. The expression on his face didn’t quite suggest the same, though.

 

“It’s nice. I think.” Ren paused for a beat and looked back up at Hux. “Were you--...planning on using it?”

 

Hux scoffed and replaced the blade in the kit.

 

“It’s not exactly a collector’s item.  I wouldn’t have bought it if I didn’t intend to use it.  Why are you looking at me like that?”

 

Ren was a moment too late to stop his face falling into what could only be described as a _pout_.

 

“We still have a while before we’re needed back on the ship… I guess I was hoping you might refrain until then. I mean, I obviously think it suits you, but if you’re uncomfortable…”

 

“Ren, I’m not going to shave _now._  It’s for when we return.  I told you not to get too attached.”  He offered his knight a knowing smile.

 

Ren rolled his eyes at the tease, but his shoulders still sagged with relief.

 

“I know, I know… You did warn me. But that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy it while it lasts, does it?”

 

He took a step closer to Hux then, his smile somehow sheepish and coy all at once as he reached down to gently nudge the kit away from them.

 

“I picked up some more of that conditioning oil you like.”  Hux let Ren place the shaving kit on the side of the sink and turned to take him in his arms.  “I’m always thinking about your enjoyment,” he murmured, leaning in for a kiss.

 

Ren answered with a contented little hum first, leaning into him and slipping his arms around Hux’s waist. He let their kiss linger for a moment before he pressed another to his bottom lip, and another still, to one corner of his mouth. Giving Hux’s cheek the shyest sort of nuzzle, he answered:

 

“All the more reason to make the most of our time here together, right?”

 

Hux closed his eyes and let himself drift into that perfect place where he and Ren were the only two points of brightness in an otherwise dim universe.  He let Ren lift him in his arms and bring him to bed; lay him out and gently unfasten his shirt.

 

“I missed you today.”

 

Ren chuckled softly, leaning up to press a chaste kiss just under Hux’s jaw as he finished with the last button of his shirt.

 

“You missed _me_? I didn’t go anywhere… You were the one that wanted to get out for a little while. _I_ missed _you._ ”

 

“Good.  I wanted you to miss me.”  The way his husband kissed along his jawline reduced him to a trembling mess and he let a most undignified moan bubble up from his throat.

 

“I always assumed you preferred me clean shaven,” he added.  “I’ve never been so delighted to be wrong in my life.”

 

“I didn’t exactly know what I was missing, did I?” Ren hummed, grinning against Hux’s skin as he trailed his mouth up toward his ear. “You could have convinced me that you just weren’t capable of growing facial hair. But here you were, hiding this dirty little secret from me for so long… Can you blame me?”

 

“I don’t pretend to understand what you like about me, Ren.”  He felt the heat rise in his cheeks as the knight continued to kiss his way towards the spot just under his ear that weakened him.

 

Ren pulled back, shifting his weight to straddle his husband’s hips more comfortably as he looked down at him, frowning.

 

“Do you still not understand why I enjoy it so much?”

 

“I admit to being a little baffled.”  His hands came to rest on those perfect hips, rubbing them a little.

 

“Baffled,” Ren repeated through a soft sigh. He smoothed both hands up over Hux’s chest, fingertips almost reverent as they followed the pale curve of his throat to weave into his beard. Gently scratching along his jaw, he continued.

 

“There’s not much to it… I like the way it looks on you. I like the way it feels. Especially when we kiss.”

 

Hux closed his eyes relaxed into the soothing touch, nearly purring at the gentle scratches.

 

“I know you like the way it feels,” he said slyly.  “You were practically wrapped around it last night when we…” He reached up to touch Ren’s clean-shaven cheek.  “When I took care of you.”

 

Heat bloomed beneath his fingertips, Ren’s face going warm at the sultry reminder.

 

“And you still wonder why I love it so much?” He answered, reaching up to take Hux’s hand. He turned his face and pressed a kiss to the inside of his palm, nuzzling against him as though to emphasize the difference between his own smooth skin and his lover’s.

 

“Mmm, it’s just for you, _Silharill_ ,” Hux murmured, “I grew it for my own pleasure and I keep it for yours.  I promise not to shave until we’re on board.  You know I’m incapable of denying you anything.”

 

He drew Ren down for another kiss, rubbing his soft beard against that smooth face.

 

The way Ren answered in kind could only be described as _feline_ , burying his face in the thick golden curls he so obviously adored. As if he needed another way to mark Hux as his own.

 

“I’m very glad that you are,” he murmured, following the curve of Hux’s cheek with his nose before he dipped right back down to the delicate spot just beneath his ear. “Maybe when the time finally comes, you’d allow me the honors of doing it for you? Give it a proper send-off and all that…”

 

When Ren pulled back to grin at him Hux indulged himself in a slow exploration of the Ren’s jawline with his mouth, pressing hot kisses here and there against his neck.

 

“You’d shave me?  I think I would enjoy that.  Maybe in a hot bath.”

 

Ren gave his approval of the idea with a soft purr of a groan, eyes fluttering shut for a moment and hips rolling down against Hux’s without much thought behind the action.

 

“It’s a date. I’ll get to pamper you… Maybe even use that fancy new razor you bought?”

 

“If you’re careful.  I reserve the right to finish the job if need be.”  He pushed back into Ren’s hips, unwilling to be a passive partner in this when his body hungered to flip Ren over onto his back and show him a different kind of pampering.

 

He sent the thought out as he continued to grind against him.

 

A noise caught in Ren’s throat torn somewhere between a laugh and a moan, his next breath coming a little heavier before he swallowed hard and licked his lips.

 

“I’m not sure you could really call that _pampering_ , but who am I to complain?” He murmured, voice low and pleased as he finally seemed to take control of his body. The fluid rolling of his hips suddenly seemed far more intentional, fitting the curve of his backside in against the cradle of his husband’s hips. “Are you going to _take care_ of me again?”

 

“I’ll always take care of you, _Nymminill_.”  He grinned at the way Ren pushed his buttocks back against his hand when Hux gave him an appreciative squeeze.  “All I think about is taking care of you.”

 

Ren answered with another soft laugh, the sound so teasingly fond it couldn’t help but summon another little blossom of warmth there in his chest.

 

“I know you will,” he said, leaning back down to claim Hux’s mouth in a kiss that was as passionate as it was sweet. “I know you do. I think about it, too. I’m thinking about it right now…”

 

“It’s a husband’s privilege to attend to the needs of the man he loves.  Tell me what you need.”  He whispered the last as he brushed Ren’s lips with his own.

 

He could feel Ren hesitate for just a moment, as if there was any shame left in his deepest, darkest desires. Not that Hux supposed the thing he was about to ask for was anywhere near the deepest or darkest.

 

“I want to feel you. I want to--... feel it where it still aches a little from the night before. Want your mouth against me, soothing all the places your beard has rubbed raw.”

 

“Nothing would gratify me more.”  In one fluid motion he rolled Ren onto his back, stole a kiss from those flushed lips, and began a slow path down that broad chest.  He’d shave his beard when Ren returned to service with Hux by his side, but in the meantime he remained determined to give his knight something to remember it by.

 


End file.
